Friday, May 10, 2013

The Mango Bride

Book Description:
Two women, two cultures, and the fight to find a new life in America, despite the secrets of the past…

Banished by her wealthy Filipino family in Manila, Amparo Guerrero
travels to Oakland, California, to forge a new life. Although her
mother labels her life in exile a diminished one, Amparo believes her
struggles are a small price to pay for freedom.

Like
Amparo, Beverly Obejas—an impoverished Filipina waitress—forsakes
Manila and comes to Oakland as a mail-order bride in search of a better
life. Yet even in the land of plenty, Beverly fails to find the
happiness and prosperity she envisioned.

As Amparo works to
build the immigrant’s dream, she becomes entangled in the chaos of
Beverly’s immigrant nightmare. Their unexpected collision forces them
both to make terrible choices and confront a life-changing secret, but
through it all they hold fast to family, in all its enduring and
surprising transformations.

Idgie Says:
I love novels that delve into other country's lifestyles and cultural ideals, it's a way to see the world on a tight budget. This novel is highly descriptive regarding the ideals, taboos, food and lifestyle of the Philippines. It does a fine job of showing the difference - for the characters - of where they have come from as opposed to where they are now, and what the struggles are to live in a strange new world so far away from what they know and love.

The novel has several characters in it that all weave in and out of each other's lives, all from the Manila area at one point in their lives, and all now living in the Bay Area of California for various reasons - most of them in an effort to escape something back home.

The timeline pops back and forth from present to the 1970's, in an effort to bring the history and secrets out. The book is chock full of adultery, immigration issues, abortion, abuse and the search for a better life. The characters are alive and hold on to a certain grace, regardless of their circumstances.

The day "Claire" from Lost mentioned me!

Pat Says:

Pat Conroy just told me that I take a foul art and give it a queenly air, then he kissed my hand.

Decatur Book Festival, 2014

Books that "Stuck"

In no particular order: Bill Bryson and James Herriot....I have re-read anything they write multiple times.We're All DamagedThe End of the World Running ClubHandmaid's Tale Watership DownRiversDesperation RoadBull Mountain The Stand The Poisonwood Bible Black Beauty The Road... read once, will never read again, but it stuck. Lonesome Dove Gone With The Wind....of course Earth Abides A Brave New World

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Idgie

“She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.” —Louisa May Alcott